Advance press kit Exhibition From October 13, 2011 to January 16, 2012 Napoleon Hall In the Kingdom of Alexander the Great Ancient Macedonia Contents Press release page 3 Map of main sites page 9 Exhibition walk-through page 10 Images available for the press page 12 Press release In the Kingdom of Alexander the Great Exhibition Ancient Macedonia October 13, 2011–January 16, 2012 Napoleon Hall This exhibition curated by a Greek and French team of specialists brings together five hundred works tracing the history of ancient Macedonia from the fifteenth century B.C. up to the Roman Empire. Visitors are invited to explore the rich artistic heritage of northern Greece, many of whose treasures are still little known to the general public, due to the relatively recent nature of archaeological discoveries in this area. It was not until 1977, when several royal sepulchral monuments were unearthed at Vergina, among them the unopened tomb of Philip II, Alexander the Great’s father, that the full archaeological potential of this region was realized. Further excavations at this prestigious site, now identified with Aegae, the first capital of ancient Macedonia, resulted in a number of other important discoveries, including a puzzling burial site revealed in 2008, which will in all likelihood entail revisions in our knowledge of ancient history. With shrewd political skill, ancient Macedonia’s rulers, of whom Alexander the Great remains the best known, orchestrated the rise of Macedon from a small kingdom into one which came to dominate the entire Hellenic world, before defeating the Persian Empire and conquering lands as far away as India. The exhibition Portrait of Alexander, 3rd century B.C., Pella (area of), Marble takes as its theme the glorious past of this kingdom, impressive in © Archaeological Museum of Pella its reach at the height of its prominence. It also provides an opportunity to explore the nature of royal burial sites in northern Greece at the time of these rulers: the wondrous artifacts An exhibition organized by the Louvre and the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism. unearthed, which had been protected by tumuli, provide unique insights into the virtuosity of this period’s artists. This exhibition is made possible by the Stavros Exhibition curators: Niarchos Foundation, Fondation Total, and Sophie Descamps, Chief Heritage Curator, Department of Greek, Château Margaux. Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Musée du Louvre. Lillian Acheilera, Honorary Director, 16th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Polyxeni Adam-Veleni, Director, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Maria Lilimpaki-Akamati, Honorary Ephore of Antiquities. With additional support provided by the Greek National Tourist Office in Paris. ©Crown of gilt oak leaves Second half of the th The catalogue was made possible thanks to the 4 century B.C. generous support of THE J. F. COSTOPOULOS Vergina (Aegae), Sanctuary of Eukleia, Gold FOUNDATION and Arjowiggins. © hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism / Archaeological Receipts The three-dimensional rendering included in the funds exhibition is made possible thanks to the scientific support of Foundation of the Hellenic World. Communications Press relations Anne-Laure Beatrix Laurence Roussel [email protected] [email protected] +33 (0)1 40 20 84 98 / 54 52 (fax) 3 The first work encountered by visitors to the exhibition is a 1:1 scale reproduction of a mosaic in the collections of the Archaeological Museum of Pella dating from the late fourth century B.C. Created using river pebbles following the ancient technique, this mosaic depicts a lion hunt. I. Discovery of ancient Macedonia Until the 1970s, northern Greece remained a little-known region, especially from the archaeological standpoint. Long outshined by the visible ruins of Attica, Peloponnesus, Turkey, Sicily and southern Italy, the buried ruins of northern Greece, a land of rivers, extensive forests, and gold and silver mines, did not arouse interest among scholars. Not a single example of civilian architecture had survived the Roman conquests and the only known written sources at the time, such as the speeches of Demosthenes, described the Macedonian king Philip II as a drunken barbarian. What could possibly be uncovered in this region of the world that the architecture of southern Greece had not already revealed? Of course, some objects had been excavated and considered as masterpieces of Roman art, including a fully intact Attican marble sarcophagus dating from the end of the second century A.D. (Attica sarcophagus, Musée du Louvre). The lid of this monumental sarcophagus represents the deceased couple on their funeral bed. The legendary battle between the Greeks and the Amazons is depicted on the front of the case, while the back is ornamented with garlands and gryphons. Crafted in Attica, the sarcophagus was then shipped to northern Greece. Discovered in Thessaloniki in 1836, this monumental work entered the collections of the Louvre in 1844. In 1861, Léon Heuzey (1831–1922), who later would have a career as a curator at the Louvre, and the architect Honoré Daumet (1826–1911) were sent by Napoleon III to northern Greece to look for traces of Roman civil war battlefields. The two Frenchmen excavated a number of sites that Heuzey had spotted a few years earlier, bravely contending with malaria and the sometimes antagonistic local population. They were able to unearth two wings of a monument, fragments of which they brought back to the Louvre. At that time this site was known as Palatitsia. It was only in 1977 that a Greek archaeologist by the name of Manolis Andronikos would reveal to the world the mysteries of a colossal tumulus remarked by Heuzey: beneath this huge mound, 110 meters in diameter and 12 meters high, Andronikos uncovered three royal burial chambers, including the unopened tomb of Phillip II. His initial discoveries inspired further excavations in the following years, sometimes at a heady pace, which together have served to amply illustrate the cultural diversity and prominence of the kingdom of Macedon. In particular, the rich contents of these tombs have given insights into the phenomenal heights reached by this civilization: silver and gold objects exemplifying remarkable technical virtuosity, paintings that provide compelling early evidence of the ease and mastery with which the period’s artists made use of techniques such as the optical fusion of colors, chiaroscuro and perspective. Later excavations at this prestigious site, now identified with Aegae, the first capital of ancient Macedonia, resulted in Andronikos’ 1982 discovery of the theater where Philip II was assassinated in 336 B.C. as well as his 1987 find, the tomb of Alexander’s grandmother Eurydice, followed by the discovery of a number of other puzzling burial sites (excavated in 2008 and 2009), one of which contained a golden crown presented in the exhibition (Crown of gilt oak leaves, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki). This tomb might be the burial place of Heracles, Alexander the Great’s illegitimate son. II. Genesis of the kingdom of Macedon, from the second half of the nd th 2 millennium to the 6 century B.C. In an attempt to further an understanding of the origins of the kingdom of Macedon, the exhibition adopts a chronological presentation in this section. With the Bronze Age drawing to a close, population movements at the dawn of the Iron Age led to the emergence of royal dynasties, included among them the Temenides. Macedonia was a particularly affluent civilization, as witnessed by the necropolises of Sindos near Thessaloniki and Archontiko near Pella, both of which have revealed uncomparable treasures. The deceased were buried along with their weapons, their utensils, and their gold and silver jewelry, expertly decorated with filigree and granular work. The exhibition presents the entire funerary contents of a woman’s tomb from the necropolis of Sindos: a pair of earrings, a necklace of pearls and pendants, and a pair of gold hairpins (Pair of hairpins, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki). Mystery continues to surround another tomb dating from 520 B.C. in which the face of the deceased had been entirely hidden behind a bronze helmet and a gilt mask (Bronze helmet in the Illyrian style and gilt mask, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki), following a tradition that had fallen out of use in Greece since the period of the Mycenaean shaft graves in the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries B.C. Several colonies were founded on the Macedonian coasts by other Greek city-states. Vases found in the necropolises of Torone, Mende, Methone or Akanthos and in those of the Macedonian cities bear witness to the flourishing development of trade throughout the region. Many pieces were imported, such as Attic, Chian or Corinthian vases, and others from Asia Minor. Two magnificent chalices, one featuring a roaring lion and the other showing a confrontation between two sphinxes, are presented in the exhibition (Chian chalice with contentious sphinxes, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki). III. Kings of Macedon, from Alexander I to Alexander the Great th th (5 –4 century B.C.) Were it not for the shrewd political acumen and ambition of some of the Macedonian kings, particularly the exceptional strategic skill of Philip II and his many reforms, the groundwork for eastward expansion would never have been laid and Alexander III would not have been able, at the tender age of twenty, to embark upon his conquest of the Orient. Alexander I (500 or 498–454 B.C.) had allied himself with Athens at a time when his kingdom was under Persian rule. But Macedonia truly extended its reach during the reign of Philip II (359–336 B.C.). Held as a hostage at Thebes in his youth, he observed the practices of the Boeotian army and applied these lessons in reforming the Macedonian army, particularly the infantry, whom he equipped with the sarissa, a pike nearly 5 meters in length.